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Guest Post: 10 of the coolest girls in sci-fi entertainment

Today we have a guest post from Tuppence Magazine. Enjoy this fresh take on cool girls in SciFi.

Throughout the history of sci-fi entertainment there has been some legendary women. They’ve made science fiction amazing, and they continue to inspire performances today. Here are 10 of the coolest:

Mary Shelly – Frankenstein
Arguably the first lady of sci-fi, Mary Shelly was just 18 when she wrote Frankenstein (1818). It was written in a competition with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori to write the best horror story. Needless to say, Frankenstein came out on top.

Uhura – Star Trek
The leading lady of the original Star Trek series was genuinely amazing. Apart from her unrivalled comms skills, she also sported the nifty uniform with the poise of a princess. Played by Zoe Saldana, Uhura firmly entrenched strong women in the sci-fi genre.

Jill Valentine – Resident Evil
This might seem like a bit of a random entry, but in the world of sci-fi gaming, cool female characters are sadly a bit thin on the ground. However, in Resident Evil there was Jill Valentine who took on the biohazard enemy with even more firepower than fellow survivalist, Chris Redfield, helping to solidify the credibility of playing as a girl in computer games.

Samus Aran – Metroid
Another great contender for coolest girl in gaming has got to go to Samus Aran from the Metroid series. First hitting home entertainment on the NES in 1986, Samus was an instant hit with her bid to battle the space pirates. As a lone bounty hunter sent to infiltrate the pirate base and destroy Mother Brain, she helped to make female protagonists popular in gaming.

Trinity – The Matrix
The Matrix is ice cold throughout and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) with her shades and slick black outfits was at the heart of the style of the film. As well as looking cool, she also had some impressive skills in the martial arts department.

Padme – Star Wars
This is probably the most controversial entry. Despite the possibility that Natalie Portman’s Padme is not quite as well regarded as Princess Leia, she just pips it on the cool stakes. In addition to the fact that Natalie Portman is in general cooler than Carrie Fisher, there’s also the issue of flirting with her brother (just wrong), as well as the slave scene, which was a bit too saucy to be cool.

Ripley – Alien
One woman versus a monster alien killer; that’s all that really needs to be said about Ripley in Alien. Played perfectly by Sigourney Weaver, Ripley is strong and feminine, making her the super cool sci-fi girl that she is. She then returned in Aliens to face not just 1 monster, but a whole hoard of them, and she still came out on top.

Sarah Conner – Terminator
Sarah Conner, the bane of robotic killing machines, literally crushed Arnie in Terminator. Admittedly, he returned in T2, but by that time her son from the future had fixed it that he was on her side. Either way you look at it, she had cool in epic proportions. She also managed to give the shape shifting T1000 a run for his money too.

Yori – Tron
Yori was a computer program in female form. In terms of science fiction it doesn’t get much cooler than that. With the unique style from the film Tron and the innocent determination of a good-natured computer program, Yori helped to save everyone from the tyranny of the Master Control Program. Played by Cindy Morgan, Yori also helped to inspire the super cool performance of Olivia Wilde as Quorra in the sequel, Tron Legacy.

Pris – Blade Runner
Blade Runner introduced Daryl Hannah to the world of movies and it was an epic first showing. She played Pris, the renegade replicant with a killer instinct. Along with fellow psychotic replicant, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), she gave Harrison Ford a pretty rough time. Though she doesn’t make it to the end of the film, and despite the fact that she was a baddy, it was a very cool performance nonetheless.

This guest article was written by Tuppence Magazine, dedicated to bringing the best entertainment news to the web.

8 thoughts on “Guest Post: 10 of the coolest girls in sci-fi entertainment”

I love the inclusion of Mary Shelly in this post. Because her story was a monster story, I forget it was pure SciFi. Based on the concerns with moral implications of the science of her day. A grand tradition in the genre.

Hard call for me, but I think it will always be Uhura. Ripley and Sarah Conner are both great characters who demonstrate iconic strong female types, but Uhura predates them both AND managed to be tough, professional and yet extremely feminine throughout.

Of course, Mary Shelly is an awesome inclusion, but if you’re going to add her, then I’d personally propose Ursula K. LeGuine and Kate Wilhelm, who both furthered the mold of strong female authors in a male dominated field. Though, admittedly, Mary Shelly made the mold…